this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

The first connection to the internet that I ever had was through a 300 BPS modem that someone sold to me for a dollar at a flea market.

I didn't believe it would really work so I took the family computer and opened it up and slapped it in, ran a telephone line into it and then, not really knowing what the hell I was doing and not knowing any numbers to dial to connect, I searched through the white pages and stumbled upon a local BBS that was still in operation.

I dialed that bad boy up and it fucking connected and to this day I cannot sufficiently relate the aheer Joy of watching my dinky little home computer talk to another computer dozens of miles away.

Every single character that slowly appeared on the screen was another shot of dopamine to my fragile young psyche.

About a month later, I got my hands on a 14.4 kbps modem and the speed boost almost made me jizz in my pants.

Teenage me was in love and I have been in love ever since.

[–] marx2k@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

You went from a 300bps to 14.4k?? lol I'm surprised you lived through that experience

[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 3 points 8 hours ago

Yep. The first MP3 I was able to download took like 45 minutes. Toms diner ftw.

[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (3 children)

Can this really be from 1982, or was it a typo and you meant 1992?
If there were modem ads already in '82, that would blow my mind. But if it's 1992, the piece would manage to squeeze into my understanding of the internet's history.

[–] marx2k@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

It's official, then: ∑(ʘдʘ)
(that's supposed to be a "mind blown" text face)

When anyone says "internet" and "1982", my mind sees a primitive, large and cumbersome telephone cradle like the one Matthew Broderick had in War Games and would you like to play a nice game of Global Thermonuclear Warfare?

[–] marx2k@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Yep the acoustic couplers. WarGames is from 83.

https://www.cio.com/article/220297/the-technology-of-wargames.html?amp=1

The modem David Lightman used to connect his computer to the outside world, as seen here and in the movie, was an IMSAI 212A. In reality though, it was only labeled that way for the movie. IMSAI never actually produced or sold such a modem. What was actually used in the movie was a Cermetek 212A modem, which could communicate at 1200 (!) baud.

Back in the day before computer modems could be directly connected to a phone line, phone handsets were placed in acoustic couplers connected to a computer, in order to convert sounds to electrical signals (and vice versa). In WarGames, an acoustic coupler is used prominently by David Lightman. Ironically, though, it wasn’t actually needed since his ISMAI (er, Cermetek) 212A modem didn’t need a coupler. It was included purely for the visual effect. Ahh, movie magic!

[–] gramie@lemmy.ca 1 points 13 hours ago

I owned a 2400 modem in 1986, so this is definitely from the '80s. I used to be able to read text as it came in.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago

Nobody would be interested in a 1200 baud modem in 1992. 9600 baud was pretty much the standard at that point and 14.4k happened later that year, which became incredibly widespread.

[–] Orbituary@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago
[–] Stanley_Pain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

opens mouth squelches into the void

[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

If it weren't for the fact that I work in a professional setting I would set my ringtone to be the dial-up noise.

[–] Stanley_Pain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 hours ago

This sounds like a great idea!😁

[–] mvilain@fedia.io 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I wonder how well these would work over today's VOIP lines. AT&T and my local phone company don't sell wired lines any more in my area. All I could get is a VOIP line.

[–] marx2k@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Modems over VOIP are terrible due to sound compression.

You could make it work though https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7mqkTFq7Ekg

[–] WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Look at Mr fancy pants over here with the 1200 baud modem!

[–] Good4Nuthin@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

now do a usr courier hst (my first big $ modem).

[–] xycu@programming.dev 1 points 9 hours ago

I still have my Dual Standard one somewhere, was 16800 i think and upgraded the board in it a couple times to bring it up to 56k eventually. It was a beauty. I think it was like $800? An insane amount of money in hindsight, but worth every penny at the time.

[–] Blade9732@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

"Hello professor, do you want to play a game?"